Halloween in July
by Ssergit
Summary: A general Harry Potter fic. The Order and friends have a costume party hilarity ensues. Various highlights on many relationships, romantic and otherwise. Status changed to ON HOLD.
1. A Sirius Idea

Title: Halloween in July

Summary: A general Harry Potter fic. The Order and friends have a costume party; hilarity ensues. Various highlights on many relationships, romantic and otherwise.

"Sirius, you're not serious!" exclaimed Molly Weasley, looking at their host with an incredulous expression.

"I assure you, Molly," he protested with a twinkle in his eye, "that I am both Sirius _and_ serious." The Weasley matriarch opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a groan coming from none other than Hermione.

"If you don't mind," she said in a pained tone, "I'll just leave you all to your discussion, before it turns into a rendition of 'Who's on First.'" Harry was the only one to get the joke, laughing for a moment before trying to turn it into a cough as the roomful of Weasley and Order members stared at him and Hermione. "Never mind," she said, a little huffily. "It's a muggle play, by-" she was cut off by Sirius, who had also managed to block her escape by moving to stand in front of the door.

"It'll be fun!" he said enthusiastically.

"Fun to dress up like idiots and pretend we're muggles?" asked Ron, incredulously.

"The muggles wouldn't see us, Ron," said Tonks, surprising everyone by taking Sirius' side. "It would just be like a costume party."

"Halloween in July," Molly scoffed angrily.

"Well, Molly, I suppose they wanted something for their children to do, rather than vandalizing the neighborhood," Arthur said, referring to the latest Muggle news report.

"It might be fun to do Halloween without having Dudley beating me up for my candy basket," mused Harry. A chorus of hesitant agreement sounded around the room, and Sirius beamed.

"Oh, all right," Mrs. Weasley said in a begrudging tone, surrounded by hopeful looks on all sides, red-haired and otherwise. "But!" she added quickly, rounding on the twins George and Fred. "You two are absolutely forbidden from handing out your concoctions to _anyone_, muggle or otherwise!" By the crestfallen looks on their faces, she (and some of the other occupants of the room) was glad she'd remembered to point that out.

"Don't worry, mum," George said.

"The muggles don't even know the house is here!" Fred assured her.

"Are _all_ of us required to attend?" a voice from near the fireplace asked, stiffly.

"Oh, I think so, Minerva," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "After all," he said with a mischievous gin, "This new 'Halloween in July' thing happens to fall on the same night as our next meeting." He chuckled at the dismay on a few of the adult's faces, as they realized they wouldn't be able to avoid the planned festivities. "I think I even have a costume in mind…" He made his way to the door, and Sirius moved to let him pass. A dozen pairs of eyes followed Dumbledore as he exited the room, leaving them with an entirely too lively, "Splendid idea, Sirius!"

"Well," Mad-Eye Moody said in a grumpy voice. The sentiment was echoed in the facial expressions of most of the older Order members.

"If you don't wish to attend," Fred Weasley piped up in a cunning voice.

"You can always test one of our Skiving Snackboxes!" finished George. The irrepressible twins gave shot each other a look, and both apparated a split second before their irate mother reached them.

oOoOoOoOo

"I think Dumbledore has finally gone mental," complained Ron the next morning, as he and Harry watched Hermione trying to teach Ginny how to knit.

"Honestly, Ron—couldn't you see why Dumbledore said we should do it?" Hermione said in an irritatingly superior voice.

"It seemed to make Sirius pretty happy," mused Harry.

"Exactly." Hermione looked away from Ginny for a moment, during which the younger girl said a quick spell under her breath, and a neat row of knitting appeared in her hands. Harry was hard-put not to laugh, and Ron just gave her a thumbs-up, which caused Hermione to look back at her friend quickly.

"Oh, Ginny!" she said in a frustrated tone. "You'll never learn how to do it properly if you magic it all the time!" Ginny just shrugged, and gave Hermione a little hug.

"Just not my thing, I guess," she said. "So!" she said to the room, "Any ideas of what costume, yet?" Harry and Ron's facial expressions answered her question, and all three of them turned to look at Hermione.

"What?" she said, coloring slightly.

"Don't tell me," Ron said on a groan, as Hermione bent to concentrate on her knitting again. "She'll probably go as a non, or something."

"A what?" asked Ginny.

"A non," explained Ron. "You know, the muggles who dress up in all black robes, wear their hair up in a-" he broke off as Harry burst into hysterical laughter, and Hermione shot the redhead a look of purest loathing.

"A _nun_!" she said, her voice getting dangerously high pitched. "You think I would dress up as a nun?" Her knitting forgotten, Hermione stood, drawing herself up to full height and putting her hands on her hips. She stared at Ron in anger. Ron stood up as well, facing off with her and starting to speak again, completely ignoring Harry, who was making desperate 'wave off' hand gestures.

"Well, you know," Ron said irritatingly, "something all prim and proper." Both Ron and Hermione were now beet red, and Hermione had her wand out.

"Breakfast!" rang Mrs. Weasley's voice from the kitchen below. Ginny caught Harry's eye and they shared a look of relief.

"Come on, Hermione," Ginny said, grabbing the other girl's hand and practically dragging her from the room. "Last time, Fred and George ate all the muffins before we even got down there."

"What did she get all upset for?" asked Ron, oblivious.


	2. Double the Mischief, Double the Fun

A/n: Thanks for the reviews so far J Fyi, 'Wotcher' is something Tonks says a lot as a greeting, for anyone who didn't know. _Chapter Two_ Double the Mischief, Double the Fun 

"Look out, mate!" George hissed to his brother Fred, as their mother's form entered the room, laden with food. Fred was on the floor, trying to pick up hairs from the carpet to identify their owners. Mrs. Weasley turned and left the room, evidently without seeing anything amiss, and Fred crowed with delight as he lifted a grey hair from the floor where it had been laying next to a black boot. The boot began to tap on the hand he was using to hold himself up, and the redheaded scamp looked up to meet the eyes of Nymphadora Tonks. They were green, today.

"I'm going to take that kind of personal, in a minute," she quipped, looking down at him with an easygoing grin. Fred realized that she was wearing a skirt, and if he just tipped his head to the side, he could see right up her… The young wizard gave a yelp of pain as Tonks' tapping boot landed with some force on his hand.

"Doesn't take a hint, that one," said George.

"Pity," said Tonks. "These were new boots…" She lifted her leg again, and Fred scrambled out from under the table red faced, holding his injured hand to his chest. All sign of pain was gone the next second when Molly returned with a basket of-

"Muffins!" chorused the twins, and they both reached for the basket greedily.

"Accio basket!" Ginny said, coming around the corner with Hermione.

"Clever girl," said Fred, "but what good, you might ask,"

"Is a basket, without muffins?" George continued. "Accio Muf-" He stopped mid-spell, unable to talk for the fluffy blueberry muffin that now filled his mouth.

"Good shot, Hermione!" Ginny said appreciatively. "Fred, would you like a muffin too?" she said politely, as her fellow Gryffindor lifted another one and prepared to take aim.

"I'll have one the normal way," her brother said warily. "Thanks."

"Suit yourself."

The Weasley twins hurriedly finished the rest of their breakfast and scurried from the room, ostensibly to prevent their being marshaled into clean-up duty. In reality, however, they had much more devious reasoning.

"You didn't eat it, did you?" asked George. His brother feigned shock, feeling at his shirt and pants pockets in mock alarm before grinning toothily.

"No, too valuable for that," he said, and pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. Inside was a long grey hair—but if the boys' reaction to it was any indicator, it was far more important than it looked.

"Do we have all the ingredients?" Fred asked, poking the hair almost lovingly.

"I should hope not," said a voice from the doorway, sending both young men jumping about a foot in the air.

"I'm sorry, professor?" George said, forcing himself to sound nonchalant.

"Looking for someone in particular?" Fred hoped.

"Yes, actually. I was looking for two young men with the exceedingly foolish idea of concocting a polyjuice potion with my hair." The twins immediately turned the same color as their hair. "You know that potion doesn't work well with non humans," Lupin said.

"We didn't realize-" said Fred.

"We don't see you as-" George said at the same time. The older man smiled despite himself; it was nice having friends who overlooked little things like your being a werewolf.

"We'll look for a different-" George started to say.

"Costume." Fred finished for him.

Lupin was smiling as he left the room and went up the stairs to his. That is, until he remembered what their idea of a costume was. He almost went back down to forbid them from using potions as party tricks, but… '_If Molly herself can't get those two to behave,_' he thought in amusement, _'I certainly wouldn't have much luck._' He tried not to hope that they picked Snape, instead.

oOoOoOoOo

"It's been years since I've had to deal with such foolishness," Minerva McGonagall was saying to her good friend Albus Dumbledore.

"We could all use a little foolishness in our lives," he replied in a sage voice, adding with a twinkle in his eye, "even you."

"I suppose you've got your costume already."

"Not really," he replied. After a long, thoughtful pause, he said, "I think I shall go as Godric Gryffindor—the children would like that." McGonagall sniffed loudly in disapproval.

"Surely you wouldn't settle on something as boring as _that_," she surprised him by saying.

"Why, Minerva! Coming from his head of house, as well!" Dumbledore sounded offended, but he was smiling. "I can't imagine what you have in mind for yourself, if you think dressing as the great Godric Gryffindor is 'boring.'"

"Never you mind." She swept him a cold look that would have sent any student at Hogwarts running to hide under a pillow, but Dumbledore just grinned at her. She stood up, suddenly, and started out the door.

"Leaving so soon? I must have guessed closer to the truth," he teased.

"It would serve you right if Severus came as Salazar Slytherin," she shot back, and then she was gone.

Humming jubilantly, Dumbledore picked up a book he'd been hiding in his robes and flipped to a specific page. There was a picture on it, and he studied it carefully before closing his eyes and reaching for his wand. His clothes transfigured into a very different costume than what Gryffindor would have worn in his day. He stood up and walked to a mirror, where he stood and admired the effect for a long moment. Yes, it was perfect, he decided. It was a pity, however, that Kreacher wouldn't want to dress up—he had the perfect costume for the little fellow…

oOoOoOoOo

"Hey, Tonks."

"Wotcher, Hermione, Ginny." The exuberant Auror was once again wearing her Weird Sisters shirt, this time with some dangerously ripped up jeans and a spiky pink hairdo. Hermione tried not to groan at the sight; she liked the other woman, but why did her choice of attire have to be so…loud? She hadn't realized she was staring 'till Ginny kicked her. Tonks merely looked amused as she looked at the two younger girls.

"What's up?"

"We were wondering if you could take us into town to pick out costume stuff," Ginny said. "You don't have to, only…only I don't really want it to be Mum, because she might not like what I want to dress as, but I want to do it anyway." she said all of this in a rush, as if she was afraid her mother would walk in on them and put a stop to her costume idea. Apparently it was the right thing to say to Tonks, however, because her eyes lit up with delight and she jumped up from the couch to grasp Ginny's hand.

"That sounds great!" she crowed, and, grabbing Hermione's hand as well, she nearly dragged them from the room to tell Mrs. Weasley that they were going out. As she ran to keep up, all Hermione could think of was the thought of what Ginny and Tonks would think up as a costume for _her_.


End file.
